Review of 2020 Financial/Personal Goals

 As I'm writing this blog post, the first day of 2021 is upon us. Now that 2021 is finally here and I have already outlined my goals for this year, I will be looking back at whether I was able to accomplish my financial and personal goals for 2020!

2020 Financial Goals:

1. Collect $1,200+ in net dividends - Fail - $1,127.05

I fell just short of collecting $1,200 in net dividends during 2020, as I collected $1,127.05 in dividends during the year (when the dividends received in December 2020 are included, which will be my blog post for next week).

When I consider that this represents 83.2% YoY growth compared to the $615.30 in net dividends received in 2019, I am pleased with what I managed to accomplish in 2020 despite coming up short of my $1,200 goal.

2. End the year with net annual forward dividends of $1,450+ - Fail - $1,363.01

Another goal I came up a bit short on was ending the year with $1,450+ in net annual forward dividends, with my portfolio ending 2020 at $1,363.01 in net annual forward dividends.

Given that I have been especially dedicated to investing in the highest quality dividend stocks with an average weighted yield of 3.0-4.5% in the last quarter of 2020, I am perfectly fine ending the year short of my goal as I believe that I invested as much as I possibly could without increasing my risk of dividend cuts that would set me back later.

If I learned anything from 2020, it was that dividend safety is paramount while yield is secondary.

3. Amass $35,000 in investments - Fail - $32,900

I fell about $2,000 short of amassing $35,000 in investments in 2020, which is fine considering that I believe I am positioned well to surpass $55,000 in investments during 2020, provided financial markets are fairly flat to the downside or upside.

4. End the year with a net worth of at least $45,000 - Fail - $44,126

I ended 2020 with a net worth about $900 off of my goal of $45,000, which is once again fine IMO given that I will only need to invest about $20k to reach my goal in 2021 of a net worth of at least $65k.

2020 Personal Goals:

1. Publish at least 1 blog post each week - Pass - 52 posts for 2020

Starting with my first personal goal in 2020, I managed to achieve my goal of posting at least 1 blog post each week as I published 52 blog posts during the year.

I believe that posting 1 blog post each week strikes a nice balance between work and play, so I will once again strive to meet this goal in 2021 as I noted in my 2021 Financial/Personal Goals post. 

2. Publish at least 1 article a week on Seeking Alpha - Pass - 55 articles for 2020

Another goal that I managed to achieve in 2020 was to publish at least 1 article a week on Seeking Alpha, having published 55 articles during the year.

I will run this goal back again in 2021 since I felt as though it was a goal that wasn't overwhelming, but it was also a goal that I had to work at to achieve.

3. Surpass 5,500 followers on Seeking Alpha in 2020 - Fail - Ended 2020 with 5,049 followers

I fell short of my final personal goal in 2020, which was to end the year with 5,500 followers on Seeking Alpha.

Even so, I managed to add more than 2,000 followers in 2020, which is humbling and leads me to believe that I am in a great position to come close to my goal of 8,000 in 2021.

Concluding Thoughts:

While I only accomplished 2 of my 7 financial/personal goals in 2020, I arguably came within shouting distance of the other 5 goals.

I believe that my accomplishments in 2020 set a great foundation for the year ahead and I'm looking forward to pushing myself to come as close as possible to reaching my goals for 2021 as I continue my journey to financial independence.

Discussion:

How did you fare in achieving your goals for 2020?

As always, thanks for reading and I look forward to your comments in the comment section below!